Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Let's Hear it for the Boys

I've noticed that a lot of guys have been coming into the yarn store lately. I know what you're probably thinking: you've seen guys in the yarn store before. In fact, you brought your boyfriend/brother/husband/father to the yarn store and he stayed all of five minutes before high tailing it to the coffee shop next door.

But that's not what I'm talking about. Lately, there have been more guys coming in and buying yarn for themselves. Because they are knitting! I know, I know. I shouldn't be surprised. Wasn't knitting all about the boys hundreds of years ago, all about manly bearded fishermen repairing nets and knitting socks? But there does seem to be an alignment of the stars. Last week we had more men than women in the shop actually shopping for yarn and two of the guys were on crutches.

The time just seems right all of a sudden. First of all, Son of Stitch and Bitch is here. Not only are there tons of guy-friendly patterns, but quite a few of the designers are men.

Another thing bringing male knitting to the forefront is Brooklyn Tweed who has really taken off as a knitwear designer. The sweater du jour (besides the ever-knittedCentral Park Hoodie) is the Cobblestone (from Fall 2007 Interweave Knits). Cobblestone has just enough to keep it interesting, but is less fussy than other sweaters that my husband would positively refuse to wear. Knit in the round, this sweater is also super fast! Here's Wendi's husband Jim modelling his. (PS: he's also a knitter!)

And speaking of Brooklyn Tweed, Whitney knitted his Hemlock Ring Blanket out of Debbie Bliss superchunkycashmerino. What a great idea to adapt a doily pattern for a lap blanket!

But not every guy is happy to be at the yarn store. Here's Ruth's baby, Sam. He's enjoying the hand knits, but just not very happy to be at the shop now.

But don't worry, Ruth. There's still plenty of time to raise him into a fine knitter!

I can't wait to come home and meet Sam!! I saw that Son of the bitch and stitch book the other night but didn't look through it yet.Here in our knitting group in Manchester, NH we have TWO male knitters...They are awesome.